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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Steckel wants to grab Gurley's body parts

“We’ve really got to grab body parts,” Steckel said. “If you go high, he’ll run you over. If you go low, he’ll jump over the top of you. The key is grabbing body parts. Yes, I don’t care what body part we grab … as long as it’s not the back of the neck or the facemask.”

The Missouri defensive coordinator and his sophomore linebacker understand that stopping Gurley isn't an option, but slowing him down just might be enough.

Anything less than 150 yards for Gurley might be considered a victory of sorts for Steckel’s defense. In Georgia’s lone loss, South Carolina limited Gurley to 131 yards on 20 carries.

“That’s probably why (South Carolina) won the game,” Missouri linebacker Michael Scherer said. “What they were doing was they had a group around him every time he touched the ball. There was more than one person trying to get him to the ground.”

And it's the fourth quarter that will separate the men from the boys.

Scherer watched enough film of Gurley during Mizzou’s bye week to recognize one of the most remarkable parts of his game: Gurley has averaged 10.6 yards a carry in the fourth quarter, the best average by any player with at least 15 fourth-quarter carries. Four of Gurley’s nine runs of 20 yards or more have come in the fourth quarter.

“Some teams get worn down by the end of the game, and that’s when he really gets a lot of his yards,” Scherer said. “He’s still running as hard in the fourth quarter as he was in the first quarter.”

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